Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

OK...I did a dumb thing...last year I ran out of shear bolts, and put a regular bolt in.  I totally forgot about it.  I was kindly doing my neighbors driveway..and he left his newspaper in the snow!  ARGH.    It got caught in the auger and impeller

I got the paper out but...

Now the augers don't move.   I was hoping it was the belts..no luck.  THe impeller moves freely.......it clearly looks like its the auger gearbox.  But, how do I even get the darn thing out?  And, even if I am able to access it, can I actually fix it on my own?  Is it worth fixing?  Its a 5HP craftsman  Bought 2 years ago for $350......Someone locally has a snapper 7hp for sale for $500.  I may just get that in lieu of a major repair of this.

What should I do?  Think I can repair on my own?  THis is the last way I wanted to start the weekend!

There are some for sale on eBay for around $100.

Personally If I owned that unit, I'd take the engine off and sell it, and park the rest of it at the curb. But YMMV.

Nick - to be perfectly honest here, I would just grab the Snapper for $500. Sell the Sears on Ebay noting that it needs a gearbox repair. Parts can be expensive, with the brass worm gear alone being probably over $60, IF YOU CAN FIND IT! Murray made most Sears machines, and they're out of business (Briggs Stratton bought them out) - so any parts could be very difficult to obtain.

Marty

Depending on where you live, a local dealer may have good used deals left.  The $500 Snappper sounds a little high, but I don't know what they started at.  I'm partial to Ariens anyway.  My local dealer (Zwicker's in Chelmsford, MA) still had a few older (late 70s -mid 80s) 8HP Ariens for around $500. 

I had to do the EOD this evening before I could even get my car in the driveway.  It was about three feet deep.  My '74 8HP Ariens was throwing the snow all over the place.  I plowed right through the EOD (actually, the Ariens plowed a little tunnel through the EOD, then the snow fell on top of the engine.  

Good luck. 

EOD?

EOD  =  End of Driveway     - Kris

end of driveway

EOD.... the science of snow blowing (throwing) has taken a life of its own!!!  It even has its own acronymns/vocabulary!!!\

Go figure!!!

*(:>)*